Yemeni Government Condemns International Organizations’ Silence on Houthi Crimes Against Journalists
Yemen Monitor/ Newsroom:
The internationally recognized Yemeni government on Tuesday condemned the silence of international organizations, human rights organizations, and the international community regarding the horrific crimes and violations committed against Yemeni journalists in their prisons.
The Yemeni Minister of Information, Muammar al-Eryani, held the Houthi group “fully responsible for the life and safety of journalist Muhammad al-Miyahi, who has been on hunger strike for the fourth consecutive day in protest against his arbitrary detention since last September following an opinion piece, amid reports of his deteriorating health.”
Muammar al-Eryani said that “the Houthi militias’ kidnapping of journalist al-Miyahi after raiding his home in the kidnapped capital, Sana’a, last September, is part of a systematic campaign aimed at eliminating free voices in Yemen, as this campaign has targeted hundreds of journalists, activists, and human rights defenders who exercised their legitimate right to convey the truth and expose the crimes of these militias.”
Al-Eryani pointed out that the horrific violations against journalists are not new to the Houthi militias, as international and regional reports have documented hundreds of crimes, ranging from killing, kidnapping, and arbitrary detention to torture and enforced disappearance, and even issuing death sentences against journalists, in an attempt to intimidate the media and silence the truth.
Al-Eryani added, “Despite all these crimes and violations, international press organizations, human rights organizations, and the international community remain silent or issue timid statements, as if the suffering of Yemeni journalists is treated with double standards.”
He continued by asking, “Where are the positions of those organizations that raise the slogans of protecting freedom of the press and human rights? And why are their voices absent when it comes to Houthi crimes against journalists?”
Al-Eryani called on the international community, the United Nations, and human rights organizations, especially international press organizations, to assume their responsibilities regarding these criminal practices, and he also called for “serious pressure on the Houthi militias to immediately and unconditionally release journalist Muhammad al-Miyahi and all detained and forcibly disappeared journalists.”
Al-Eryani affirmed that the international community’s inaction and failure to classify the Houthi militia as a “global terrorist organization” makes it more daring to commit more crimes.
He also called for the prosecution of its leaders and members involved in these violations and holding them accountable before international courts, so that everyone knows that freedom of the press is not an issue subject to negotiation or silence.
Yesterday, Monday, the family of journalist Muhammad Dabwan al-Miyahi said that their son, who is being held in Houthi prisons in Sana’a, has been on hunger strike for three days, expressing their fear of his deteriorating health.
The Houthis kidnapped the writer al-Miyahi on September 20 after he wrote an article criticizing the Houthi sectarian practices and their exploitation of religious sentiments for political gains.
